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The Arizona Wildcats earned an above-average nine helmet stickers in their impressive 59-37 win over Washington State on Saturday.
They came so close to notching a season-high 12 but fell just short in three different categories:
— For only the second time this season, Arizona did not tally at least four possessions of at least eight plays. The Wildcats had only three — all by the first possession of the second quarter — but did not compile more. That is a Catch-22 because Arizona efficiently scored quickly in three second-half drives of six, seven and six plays.
— Another sticker that escaped Arizona was downing a punt by Drew Riggleman inside the 10 with 5:07 left in the second quarter. This deserves an asterisk but not a sticker (keeping the integrity of the process). The official play-by-play mentions the ball was downed at the Washington State 9-yard line. But on the next line it lists the starting point of the Cougars’ drive at the 10.
— A special teams sticker was almost earned for both a punt and kickoff return. Davonte’ Neal certainly earned the Wildcats a sticker with his 81-yard punt return for a touchdown to open Arizona’s scoring. Tyrell Johnson came two yards shy of earning a sticker with a 38-yard kickoff return to start the second half.
Aside from Neal’s return, the special teams scored a sticker by twice tackling kickoff returner Vince Mayle inside the 20-yard line.
Notes of other stickers earned against Washington State:
— The Wildcats won the turnover battle for the second consecutive game and are 4-3 in that regard this season. Redshirt freshman quarterback Anu Solomon has thrown 136 consecutive passes without an interception and has 20 touchdown passes to go with only four interceptions. His 20 touchdown passes are an Arizona freshman record, topping the 19 by Ortege Jenkins in 1997.
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HELMET STICKER RESULTS
HS: Helmet stickers
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— Solomon guided the Arizona offense to a conversion rate of 57 percent (8 of 14) on third-down and fourth-down attempts, earning the Wildcats only their second sticker of the season in that category (55 percent or higher).
— Arizona’s explosive offense had 17 plays of at least 12 yards, easily surpassing the goal of 10 plays. The Wildcats almost reached that goal by halftime with nine such plays.
— Sophomore linebacker Scooby Wright notched Arizona’s goal of at least three sacks by himself by reaching that number. Jared Tevis, a safety, had the other, which was one of his team-high 13 tackles (3.5 for lost yardage).
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HELMET STICKER CRITERIA
The Wildcats earn cat claws for the Arizona helmet if they achieve these following marks. This helmet will be updated weekly as the Wildcats attempt to fill the helmet with the cat claws:
LAST SIX GAMES
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[table “” not found /]ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He also writes articles for Bleacher Report and Lindy’s College Sports.
